Saturday, 17 January 2015

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #417 Save the Elephants

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #417 Save the Elephants

In Africa an elephant is killed every 15
minutes! At this rate there will be NO elephants living in the wild by 2025. At
this rate there will be NO elephants living in the wild by 2025. Yes, I did
think that was worth repeating, twice! because I’ve already stated this in
Flower #301.

Elephants are being poached (that’s killed) for their tusks, which are made
of ivory, which demands a really high price, particularly in the East (Flower
#253). That’s why so many are being killed daily. It’s a difficult problem, but
one which needs to be addressed immediately if any future generations are to be
able to see these magnificent creatures in the wild. Otherwise, as with mountain
gorillas and orang-utans, we will only be able to look at pictures of these
animals. Another problem faced by these gentle giants is loss of habitat, which
is ultimately due to over-population of humans, who claim more and more land
for food production and places to live. As large beasts, they need large areas
to roam, but when humans take away their land, elephants have less food to eat,
so their numbers must naturally dwindle. It’s a double-edged sword for them.
You can learn how to help African elephants at: www.ssavetheelephants.org and Asian
elephants at www.saveelephant.org by donating,
supporting and spreading the word.

Elephants are an important part of the ecosystem. They are part of the whole
picture and without them this picture will alter irreparably. At http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/elephant
it says: the seeds of many plant species
are dependent on passing through an elephant's digestive tract before they can
germinate. It is calculated that at least a third of tree species in central
African forests rely on elephants in this way for distribution of seeds.
That’s an interesting fact! And it demonstrates how much is at risk. Help turn
this around – today.

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About Me

I am a writer, emerging artist, quiltmaker and public speaker. My current art installation is a work in progress, titled "1000 Flowers for the Planet". Every day, for 1000 days, I will blog one flower with a positive suggestion for how we can improve the planet - environmental, social, moral and ethical ideas. Please join me on this journey, send me your ideas for further suggestions and feel free to comment. If everyone took up only 1% of the ideas (i.e. 10 new actions), imagine the shift in the world!!
www.margaretrowe.com.au